Speakers 2016

8th - 9th March 2016

Željko Pazin

Executive Director, European Factories of the Future Research, Belgium

Željko Pazin is the Executive Director of the European Factories of the Future Research Associations (EFFRA) and Manager at the European Engineering Industries Association Orgalime.

EFFRA is an industry driven association, promoting the development of innovative manufacturing technologies. EFFRA represents the private side in the ‘Factories of the Future’ public-private partnership (PPP), whereas the European Commission represents the public side. EFFRA develops research and demonstration topics which are then implemented by the ‘Factories of the Future’ PPP. The EFFRA Innovation Portal – a free and public service –acts as a match-maker and as an output monitoring tool of launched ‘Factories of the Future’ project.

As head of the EFFRA Office, Željko Pazin is responsible for the overall management of the association and for coordinating the private-side contribution to the Factories of the Future Public--Private Partnership, an initiative jointly executed by the European Commission and EFFRA. For Orgalime, the engineering industry association representing the overall interests of the Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, Metalworking & Metal Articles Industries, Željko Pazin works on Legal, Trade and R&D issues and manages a small team.

He previously worked at the European Commission and the American Chamber of Commerce and holds a German Master’s degree in Business Administration as well as Master degree in European Political Studies from College d’ Europe in Bruges.

In Europe, the impending revolution is known as Industry 4.0, with the German government (alone) shovelling close to €500m into developing the technology vital to support a smarter and globally competative manufacturing economy.

The European Factories of the Future Research Association (EFFRA) is an industry-driven initiative promoting the development of new and innovative production technologies by engaging in a public-private partnership with the European Union called 'Factories of the Future'.

This session will focus on the road to 2020, placing Europe at the heart of a new Industrial Revolution: